18/01/2018 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten:

Britain and France

sign a deal agreeing new measures

to tackle the numbers

of migrants at Calais.

At a summit in Sandhurst,

Theresa May committed tens

of millions of pounds

to strengthen the UK's

border controls in France.

These are all important

developments for the future.

Enhancing our bilateral

relationship, increasing

the security of both our countries

and also increasing the prosperity

of both our countries.

And both countries have committed

to closer defence and security

co-operation in the coming years

after Brexit

TRANSLATION:

TRANSLATION:.

Brexit discussions should

not in any way impact

the quality of the relationship

between our two countries.

It will never prevent a high

level of cooperation

between Britain and France.

We'll have the latest from Sandhurst

where President Macron

also confirmed the loan

of the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain.

Also tonight...

Hospital consultants in Wales say

patient safety is being compromised,

and that the NHS and social care are

chronically under resourced.

We've

got patient in the apartment where

we don't have space to see them.

We're coming back the next day and

some of the patients are still here.

It's getting worse every winter but

this is the worst we have seen it.

Scientists say that man-made

climate change is now

the most important

factor in pushing up the

earth's temperatures.

The Court of Appeal is to consider

whether terminally-ill patients ,

should be allowed assistance ,

if they wish to die.

And at 36,000 feet,

the Pope has officiated

at an improvised marriage service.

And coming up on Sportsday:

Defending Masters snooker champion

Ronnie O'Sullivan says he's glad

to

be knocked out of the tournament

after losing in the quarterfinals.

Good evening.

Britain and France have tonight

agreed to closer ties

on defence and security

and measures to tackle

the migrant crisis.

The deal was struck between

Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron,

who was making his first visit

to the UK since becoming President

of France last year.

The talks took place at the Royal

Military Academy, Sandhurst.

Mrs May committed tens

of millions of pounds

to strengthen UK border

controls in France.

The Sandhurst treaty will also

accelerate the processing

of migrants trying to come

to the UK through Calais.

And while both countries committed

to closer military cooperation,

Mr Macron warned that

if Britain wanted access

to the single market

after Brexit, then it would have

to play by the EU's rules.

Our deputy political editor

John Pienaar reports.

Nothing like a bit of pomp

and ceremony to get a big meeting

started.

Monsieur Macron and Mrs May won't be

EU partners much longer, so

they are now keener than ever

to keep in step where

they can, to stay in tune.

France is a key ally.

Brexit is coming and the Prime

Minister is treading a delicate

line.

Cooperation now, always hoping

friendship pays off in the

future.

At least, goodwill is

on Theresa May's wish list.

The president came to this Sandhurst

summit to talk business about

military collaboration

and border co-operation.

He wanted more cash

for border control.

He went to a migrant

centre near Calais this

week, and he's been promised another

£44 million for border security.

More child migrants would be allowed

into Britain and families reunited

faster.

Boris Johnson and a troupe

of Cabinet colleagues mingled with

French counterparts.

The two countries

are the EU's biggest

military powers, and today

they promised British helicopters

to help French troops fighting

jihadists in

West Africa.

So although the deals

and agreements being struck and

signed here are important, this

summit matters more than just the

sum of its parts.

France will be crucial

to Britain's chances of

getting a good Brexit deal including

on trade, and the France- UK

relationship will also be important

in determining Britain's clout as a

global player after Brexit.

When the two leaders

appeared to face the

media, Mrs May was clearly keen

to make her guests feel at home.

SHE SPEAKS FRENCH.

Her ambition?

Enhancing our bilateral

relationship, increasing the

security of our countries and also

increasing the prosperity of both

our countries, and that is good for

the people of France and of the UK.

He sounded friendly too, having

agreed to lend the 1000-year-old

Bayeux Tapestry, he joked it was

time for a new one, more peace for

this time.

-- peaceful.

-- peaceful.

But as for letting British

financial services free

access to Europe?

Be my guest.

Be my guest, he said,

but only if you pay

into the EU budget and obey

the European court.

President, Prime Minister,

ladies and gentlemen,

thank you very much.

On the count of three,

a little bit of a smile,

please.

To look at the leaders and their top

teams beaming on cue, you

would never know the two countries

have been Europe's biggest rivals

and closest neighbours

for time out of mind.

They still are, but it suits both

sides to get on well.

Mrs May is certainly

hoping they will.

With me is our diplomatic

correspondent James Robbins.

We'll talk to James

in a moment, but first

to John Pienaar at Westminster.

This obviously wasn't a Brexit

summit today, but clearly that was

the context.

Yes, Mrs May quite

clearly wants to stay as far as

possible on president Macron's good

side for all sorts of reasons, but

among them the fact his voice will

be as influential as any lead in

Europe and much what influential

than most when it comes to deciding

the shape of Brexit in negotiations.

As things stand, Britain and France

do not see the shape of Brexit the

same way in every respect at all,

and among those reasons and problems

is the access to the European single

market for the financial services

business centred in the City of

London. As things stand, after

Brexit, the city will lose the

access it has now and Paris

certainly would like a slice of that

cake. We saw President Macron this

evening saying, look, if you want to

carry on without accessing the

future, be my guest, but you'll have

to carry on paying into the EU

budget as you do now. You'll have to

carry on following European Union

regulations and have those

regulations watched over by the

European Court of Justice.

Politically Theresa May could really

not agree to that, it would be

politically impossible. Even if she

wanted to go along with that,

Brexiteers, much of her party, would

not allow it. As I say, a great deal

more diplomacy required.

I'm going

to turn to James in the studio. When

you look at the kind of deals being

struck today, what does today tell

us about the state of play now

between Britain and France?

It tells

us how complex this relationship is.

The arrangements to support France

in the field against Islamists in

Africa by sending helicopters is

generally militarily useful to the

French, as they will reinforce

Britain on the Nato border with

Russia and Estonia. It was very

clear this wasn't altogether a

meeting of equals, these are two

countries with very similar economic

power in the world. They both sit on

the Security Council. You were very

aware, I was very aware at

Sandhurst, you are watching a man

who feels immensely powerful as a

consequence of sweeping to victory

in the presidency at the head of a

new party and sweeping all before

him in French parliament. Facing a

woman who had no such success in her

election the same year. There was an

imbalance of power, you felt,

between them, and very striking

President Macron was the one who

spelt out the terms of the changes

to Britain's immigration procedures

in Calais, accelerating the process

of getting unaccompanied children to

Britain. Theresa May didn't want to

talk about that, it's highly

politically sensitive. You felt

there was a lot of tension in the

room. Not, as President Macron said,

that he wants to punish Britain. But

he said he didn't want to award

Britain. You felt this was a man who

knew he would play a very

substantial part in Brexit

negotiations, and that Britain was

the one that for better or worse was

heading into uncharted waters.

James

Robbins our diplomatic

correspondent. And John Pienaar

earlier at Westminster.

The UK is in the grip of the worst

flu season for seven years.

The latest figures show

that the number of people who went

to their GP with suspected flu

in England rose by 40%

in the past week, with similar

numbers in the rest

of the UK.

The cold weather is keeping up

the pressure on accident

and emergency units.

In Wales, dozens of senior doctors

have written to the Welsh government

saying that patient safety

is being put at risk

to an unacceptable degree.

They said planning for a winter

crisis had been inadequate,

and the NHS in Wales

is "chronically under-resourced".

Here's our Wales

Correspondent Sian Lloyd.

We've heard of emergency units

across the UK in crisis and today

doctors in Wales raised concerns

about the system here.

Tim Rogerson is one of 46

consultants in emergency medicine

who put their name to a letter sent

to the First Minister warning that

patient safety is being compromised.

Well, there's good evidence that

in a crowded emergency

department that patients

have their treatment delayed.

And that can make their illness more

protracted and, ultimately,

it can make people's lives

be at risk.

So yes, people may die

because of the pressures

that we are facing.

She had to wait three or four

hours for the ambulance,

then she had to sit outside accident

and emergency in the ambulance,

then she got transferred

to a trolley in a corridor.

82-year-old Joan Phelps is now

being cared for in hospital,

but her daughter, Tricia,

is horrified at the 13 hours it took

for her mother to be treated.

So as a patient, especially in South

Wales, you almost come to expect it.

You know that once the winter comes

you know if anything happens

and you need an ambulance,

get comfortable in that ambulance,

because that's where you're

going to be staying for the next

couple of hours.

Resus is full,

trolley bays are full.

The team at Morriston Hospital

in Swansea is trying to come up

with ways of dealing

with busy times.

Many of those packed into this room

have volunteered to leave their desk

jobs to join medical staff

on the front line.

Are you being looked after?

Donna Day is one of them.

A personal assistant

with the health board.

She's now working to speed up the

flow of patients to the hospital.

I'll come down onto the ward,

get the bed state and see how

many beds we've got,

if we've got any discharges due,

or potential discharges

for the various times of the day.

And if there's anything

delaying those discharges,

then I can chase that up.

The scheme is having some success,

but the NHS in Wales

is facing many challenges.

The latest figures show that

in December less than 80% of A&E

patients in Wales were admitted

or discharged within four hours.

That is way below the Welsh

government's 95% target

and worse than a year ago.

The Welsh government says that this

December was the busiest on record.

It recognises the challenges faced

by staff and says it has invested

an extra £60 million to help people

working in emergency units like this

one deliver their services.

We are better prepared than ever

before, but there are real

risks in where we go.

Spike in demand, unavoidable

pressures, but also

planned for pressures.

And we've seen some of those.

Politicians and doctors recognise

that this problem is not

going away any time soon.

In fact, it's feared patients

could wait even longer

unless there is a revolution

in the way health and social

care is delivered.

Sian Lloyd, BBC News, Swansea.

As we said, the latest figures show

the number of people in England

who went to their GP with suspected

flu rose by 40 % in the past week,

with similar numbers

in the rest of the UK.

Our health editor Hugh Pym

is at St Mary's Hospital in London.

What has been said about this

growing pressure?

Public health

officials are confirming this is the

worst flu season we seen since the

winter of 2010-11 in terms of

hospital admissions. They are not

back at the levels seen before

winter but officials say this is a

significant flu season and when you

look at the number of people going

into GP surgeries with flu-like

symptoms, there has been a really

sharp increase since the New Year.

Nearly four fold in Wales. It may

explain some of the pressures on A&E

between two and three fold increases

seen since the New Year in other

parts of the UK. Public health staff

say there are things people can do

to minimise the risk of catching was

spreading through, it's not too late

to have the flu jab. In English A&E

units performance improved very

slightly in the second week of this

year compared to the forced. Few

ambulances stuck outside hospitals

waiting to hand over patients. One

leading virus expert has said it's

very possible this is just another

bad flu season which the NHS has

dealt with before. But this time you

have a lot of pressure already

there. The challenge is an ageing

population is facing multiple health

conditions and that I think is why

there is concern that high levels of

the NHS about what flu might yet

bring.

Many thanks for the latest,

Hugh Pym at St Mary 's Hospital.

Severe gales have hit much

of northern Europe and

four people have been killed

by falling trees or debris,

where gusts of up to 90 miles

per hour have been recorded.

Across the Netherlands and Germany,

winds caused severe disruption

on roads and damage to property.

Hundreds of flights and trains

were also cancelled.

Here, powerful winds have caused

disruption across parts of the UK,

with gusts of over 80 miles an hour.

Tens of thousands of homes have been

without power for much

of the day in East Anglia

and the south-east of England.

The high winds brought down trees

and power cables, blocking

rail lines and roads

and damaging homes.

For the first time, scientists

say they're confident

that the impact of humans

on the global climate

is dwarfing that of natural change.

Research from agencies that

monitor climate change,

including the UK Met Office

and the US space agency

Nasa, shows that 2017

was the hottest year on record.

And 17 of the 18 warmest years

recorded since 1850

have been in this century.

Researchers say that burning

fossil fuels is to blame,

as our environment analyst

Roger Harrabin explains.

The recent wildfires

in California, not caused

by man-made climate change,

but influenced by high temperatures

drying out parched land.

Followed by the deadly mudslides

there, caused by an unusual

combination of extreme

rain and heat.

Some scientists say the latest

global temperature record proves

it's CO2 emissions that

are the main thing

heating the planet.

Look back to the worldwide

temperature graphs of the 1990s

from the Met Office.

The warming El Nino current

caused that spike in 1998.

Temperature dips for a few years

after that, but in 2015 and 2016,

El Nino is back with record highs.

But look.

2017 had no heating from El Nino,

and it's in the top

three hottest years.

a clear sign that greenhouse gases

are the main drivers of warming.

What this is showing really

is that these influences

of the human activity on climate

through our emissions of greenhouse

gases are really dwarfing

the natural climate processes

associated with El Nino.

Flooding near the coast like this

after Hurricane Harvey is the most

certain outcome of climate change,

as the seas rise and

the planet keeps on warming.

Today's report has been

a real wake-up call.

It really shows that climate change

is happening and it's happening now.

You know, it shows that we can't

keep burning coal, oil and gas,

and that politicians need to stop

dithering and take real action.

In Scotland, travellers may be

wondering why they've got snow

while the world is warming,

but that's just short-term weather.

Heatwaves in Australia look more

like climate change,

records being broken all the time.

All nations except

the USA are committed

to tackling climate change.

They all accept

they need to do more.

Roger Harrabin, BBC News.

A couple in California accused

of imprisoning their 13

children for several years

while subjecting them

to appalling abuse

have appeared in court

for the first time.

David and Louise Turpin pleaded not

guilty to more than 90

charges, including torture

and false imprisonment.

Our correspondent James Cook

is at the hearing.

What's been going on?

David and

Louise Turpin appeared a few seconds

ago inside the courtroom here. It

was a brief, procedural appearance

at which they pleaded not guilty.

Louise Turpin, sitting along the

left-hand side of the bench as we

looked at them, the cameras were not

allowed into the court, David

Turpin, with a mop of grey hair,

sitting in the middle -- the cameras

were allowed in. They are facing the

most serious charges that any parent

could face short of murder. They are

facing charges that date back in

California until 2010 of torturing,

abusing, tying up and mistreating

their children, who were severely

malnourished. We got a lot more

detail today, some of it very

distressing, about how these

children were punished by their

parents. They were punished through

beatings, to being hogtied even.

They were so severely malnourished,

and one of the girls had been

plotting the escape along with some

of her siblings for two years before

she finally made it out.

James,

thanks for bringing us up to date on

that case in California.

The private financing of projects

such as the building

of schools and hospitals

is costing taxpayers billions

of pounds more than public

sector alternatives.

That's the verdict of the the

parliament's spending watchdog.

Its report suggests that a group

of schools cost 40% more to build,

and a hospital 70% more.

The debate on private companies

delivering public services has

become more urgent this week

with the collapse of Carillion -

the UK's second largest

construction firm.

Here's our economics

editor, Kamal Ahmed.

Shiny new roads, shiny,

award-winning new schools.

Shiny new hospitals.

But they have come at a cost:

private financing -

they're called PFIs -

that is more expensive

than traditional

government borrowing.

Is it time for them to be brought

back under Government control?

PFIs cost us more over a longer

period, and it's much

cheaper to borrow money

in the traditional way.

So bringing them back will actually

save a lot of money.

There have been successes -

the Thames super sewer, on budget

and on target -

and problems...

a lack of flexibility

in the contract, which can leave

schools with bizarre bills,

like £8,000 for a window blind.

And the overspends, leaving schemes

struggling to make ends meet.

This is University College

London Hospital,

one of the country's

largest and most expensive

PFI projects.

There are 700 other private finance

initiatives in the UK.

Taxpayers are paying more

than £10 billion a year for them,

and the bills will keep rolling

in until the 2040s.

Using private companies to deliver

big public sector projects

does involve some trade-offs.

Yes, they might be more expensive.

Yes, we could be paying

the bills for decades ahead.

But what do we get in return?

We get schemes that

are delivered more quickly.

And for politicians ever worried

about the general election

that could be just ahead,

that speed really matters.

It mattered to them.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown

turbo-charged

the number of PFI contracts.

There are fewer now,

and Scotland has changed the way

it finances public sector projects.

Rohan Silva advised David Cameron

on government delivery.

The original thinking was to bring

private sector investment,

but also rigour and discipline,

to the building of

public sector projects.

Government wasn't so good at getting

stuff built on time and on budget.

The truth is, though, that this

approach was really abused,

particularly in the 2000s.

It got extended to schools

and hospitals,

completely inappropriate for this

type of financing.

The collapse of Carillion,

a big PFI provider, has put

the debate about private finance

and public projects

back in the spotlight.

The Government insists PFI has

delivered,

and the rules

have been tightened.

But today's report shows just how

high the cost has been.

Kamal Ahmed, BBC News.

President Trump has denied

that his views have changed

about building a wall along

the border with Mexico.

Building the wall was

a key campaign pledge,

and embodied his vision of America

First.

In the second of our

reports charting a year

of the Trump presidency,

our North America Editor Jon Sopel

has travelled to the border

with Mexico, and considers how

Mr Trump has shaped

American foreign policy.

If you want a symbol of the Trump

approach to foreign policy,

it's this: The wall.

We will build the wall, as sure

as you are standing there tonight.

We need the wall.

What's here at the moment,

he sees as woefully inadequate,

as he tweeted about again today.

"We need the wall for the safety

and security of our country.

We need the wall to help

stop the massive inflow

of drugs from Mexico."

He wants a physical barrier sealing

America from Mexico, literally.

But it's a metaphor, too,

for the rest of the world -

America First, America protected.

Up the coast from this barren

border in California,

it feels like another planet.

On the outskirts of LA

is the high-tech pharmaceutical

company Zencore, one of many

in the area.

This is the entire staff.

This is how many of them

were born in the US.

This is how many have parents

who were born in the US.

The owner, himself

of Jordanian origin,

says the president's immigration

policies are self-defeating.

We're competing against China

and India and Europe.

If we can't bring in the best

from everywhere, we're not

going to win anymore.

When you think of these American

industries, we don't function

without the ability to get the best

talent from the world.

And, well, that means immigration.

America can't just disentangle

itself from the rest of the world

and its long-standing commitments,

whether it be trade with the people

who live on the other side of this

wall, whether it be Nato

commitments, the Pacific,

or fighting Isis, or Donald Trump's

long-standing ambition of bringing

peace between the Israelis

and the Palestinians.

Just along from here,

they are working out

what sort of wall to build.

The inspiration for it

are the concrete sections

of the separation barrier that

Israel has built.

When Donald Trump visited

the region last May,

he made a point of being evenhanded,

pleasing Israelis with his visit

to the Western Wall,

satisfying Palestinians

by going to Bethlehem.

But he enraged the Arab world

when last month, he announced

he wanted to recognise Jerusalem

as Israel's capital and move

the US embassy there.

This is nothing more or less

than a recognition of reality.

It is also the right thing to do.

Palestinians were horrified

and showed their disgust

by burning US flags.

One year on, no one's any clearer

about what the Trump peace

plan will look like.

A reinforced wall might stop illegal

immigrants scurrying

across the border from Mexico,

but it's not going to do much

to stop an intercontinental

ballistic missile

fired from North Korea.

That country's nuclear tests have

provided Donald Trump

with his greatest foreign policy

challenge, a challenge he's met

in his own inimitable way.

Rocket Man is on a suicide mission

for himself, and for his regime.

They will be met with fire and fury.

But here, the tough

talk may be working.

Yes, the provocative nuclear

tests have continued,

but have slowed down.

Tougher sanctions have been agreed,

and North Korea has reopened a line

of communications to the South,

and its athletes will now

participate in the forthcoming

Winter Olympics.

Is that the Trump effect?

Donald Trump had almost seemed

to hope that the world

would leave America alone,

but that's not how it works

when you're US president.

The world has a habit of intruding.

And even the sturdiest wall

and the most trenchant America-First

slogan can only protect

you from so much.

Jon Sopel, BBC News,

on the US-Mexico border.

The Government has been ordered

to make immediate improvements

to Nottingham Prison

after it was warned that the jail

was "fundamentally unsafe".

Eight men are believed to have taken

their own lives there in two years.

The Chief Inspector of Prisons used

a new "urgent notification" letter

to demand action within 28 days,

warning that there could be

"further tragedies".

The Court of Appeal is to consider

whether terminally ill patients

should be allowed help to die.

It has granted permission

to Noel Conway -

a 68-year-old retired lecturer -

to challenge the law,

which forbids assisted suicide.

Mr Conway, who has motor

neurone disease, is now too

ill to attend court.

Our medical correspondent

Fergus Walsh has spoken to two

campaigners with opposing views.

Sarah Jessiman from Warwickshire

knows her time left is limited.

Breast cancer has spread

to her spine, and the treatment has

at times been extremely painful.

Sarah, who has an unrelated hearing

disorder, fears for the future.

There's a possibility that I'm

going to have a painful

and prolonged death,

and I'm scared.

I am very scared of the thought

of being bedbound in agony

for weeks or months.

Sarah wants a doctor to be allowed

to prescribe her a lethal dose

of drugs if her final months become

unbearable, but MPs

overwhelmingly rejected proposals

for a right to die in 2015.

I'd like the law changed so that

I can have a peaceful death

at the time I choose,

rather than the time that

cancer might have in mind for me.

Sarah, who recently celebrated her

20th wedding anniversary,

says people should have a choice

over how they die.

I don't want to have the kind

of death where my friends

and family say to my husband and to

each other,

"Thank goodness she's not

suffering any more."

Why do I have to suffer

that indignity?

Juliet Marlow from Hampshire has had

rheumatoid arthritis

since she was five years old.

Her immune system

attacks her joints.

She's had both her knees

and hips replaced.

Juliet can no longer walk

and relies on carers.

Every joint in my body has

got arthritis in it.

I have a large amount

of pain, but I take

painkillers on a daily basis.

I take anti-inflammatories

and between them,

they keep the pain at bay.

Juliet is opposed to

a change in the law.

She says allowing assisted suicide

would make many disabled people feel

even more vulnerable and scared.

We don't want society

to turn its back on us.

It would send a message to me

that my life wasn't worth living,

you know, because so many people

judge me on what I can't do

without focusing on what I can do.

And she says allowing doctors

to help people to die

would break the bond of trust.

The relationship between doctor

and patient, I believe,

will be fundamentally damaged

if we ask them to be our

executioners as well as our healers.

Noel Conway, who is fighting

for the right to an assisted death,

is becoming progressively weaker

and is thought to have little more

than six months left to live.

His legal team have asked the Court

of Appeal to hear his case

as soon as possible.

Fergus Walsh, BBC News.

Prince Harry and his fiance

Meghan Markle were an hour late

Prince Harry and his fiancee

Meghan Markle were an hour late

for their first official visit

to Wales this afternoon

because their train was delayed.

That didn't stop hundreds of people

braving the cold to greet them

with cheers outside Cardiff Castle.

The couple - who are

due to marry in May -

are on a tour of UK cities

to introduce Meghan to her new home.

The Pope has performed

an impromptu wedding ceremony

on a flight over Chile.

The couple, both employees

of the airline, approached the Pope

with their request

during the flight.

Our Religion Editor Martin

Bashir has the story.

They'd walked up the aisles on many

occasions, but never in church.

Flight attendants Paula Ruiz and

Carlos Elorriga married in a civil

ceremony because their church

in Santiago had been destroyed by an

earthquake eight years ago.

And so they asked

the Pope if he would

bless their union.

But Pope Francis, who wrote

about love in the family

two years ago, made them

an even better offer.

Would they like him to marry them?

An astounded groom describes

what happens next.

TRANSLATION:

We had a short

and small ceremony.

He took our hands and he asked

if there was love in

our marriage, and if we want to keep

on being together all life long.

I'm getting emotional as I say it.

It's not easy.

We said yes.

TRANSLATION:

It was a huge emotion.

We are very, very happy.

The handwritten marriage document

was signed by the bride

and groom, with the Pope

adding his own name in Spanish.

Francisco.

He concluded the ceremony

in the sky

by saying, "I hope this

motivates couples to marry".

But as far as Catholic

weddings go...

It's pretty hard to beat

being married

by the Pope on an aeroplane.

Martin Bashir, BBC News.